28 



NATURE 



[November 3, 19 10 



The reports of research committees were, as usual, of 

 a technical nature. They often briefly referred to papers 

 which have been published elsewhere, and thus are not 

 suited for detailed description here. Arising out of the 

 report on anaesthetics was a brief discussion on the advisa- 

 bility of legislation to improve the training of those who 

 are destined to administer anaesthetics, and to prohibit 

 unqualified persons from administering them. Prof. A. D. 

 Waller, F.R.S., in connection with the report on electro- 

 motive phenomena in plants, read a paper describing the 

 method used to estimate hydrocyanic acid in plants and 

 animals, with an application of the method to medico- 

 legal purposes. The committee on ductless glands report 

 on a considerable number of researches, the results of 

 some of which have already appeared. The reports on 

 body metabolism in cancer and on mental and muscular 

 fatigue each contain instructive and suggestive material. 



Some interesting photomicrographs of muscle fibres were 

 shown by Dr. Murray Dobie, who published his first paper 

 on the structure of muscle in 1848. 



Prof. J. S. Macdonald exhibited the respiration calori- 

 meter on two separate occasions. The heat production of 

 a resting man was compared with that of a man riding 

 a bicycle. 



A SUGGESTED RESEARCH FUND FOR 

 TROPICAL DISEASES. 

 nTHE Times of November 2 publishes the subjoined appeal 

 which Lord Northcote has addressed to the Lord 

 Mayor in favour of the allocation of a part of the fund 

 raised for a London memorial to the late King to the 

 establishment of an Edward VIL Tropical Research Fund. 

 The proposal has received the support of leading repre- 

 sentatives of many national interests, including Lord 

 Crewe, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Elgin, 

 Lord Kitchener, and Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. 



Letter to the Lord Mayor. 

 My Lord Mayor, — Having noted that you are taking 

 steps to form a representative Mansion House Committee 

 for the purpose of raising a fund to provide a memorial 

 of the late King in London, and that you are receiving 

 numerous suggestions as to the form which that memorial 

 should take, we desire respectfully to offer the following 

 suggestion for your earnest consideration. 



(2) The late King, in his beneficent activity for the 

 welfare of his people, was inspired by two ideals — peace 

 for mankind and war on disease. His work in the 

 former of these directions has been recognised by the 

 world at large ; it is in following his lead in the second 

 that we think that a fitting tribute to his memory will 

 be found. 



(3) Only recently, but now unmistakably, has the nation 

 become alive to the vital importance of its tropical 

 possessions. Their development proceeds apace, but at a 

 heavy cost in human life and vital energy. Rarely does 

 a mail arrive which does not bring sorrow into at least 

 one home in these islands. 



(4) For generations mankind have been willing to 

 accept in a fatalistic spirit the death toll levied upon 

 them by what was vaguely known as "the climate." 

 Now this is no longer so. Thanks to the devoted labours 

 of scientific men — -among whom our own countrymen hold 

 an honoured place— we know in many instances what the 

 enemy is and how it is to be met. 



(5) Those who are not conversant with the subject will 

 be surprised and almost startled to hear the effect on 

 human life of measures taken as the result of such 

 investigations. We give three illustrations, drawn from 

 the history of three of the greatest scourges of the 

 tropics : — 



(a) Malaria. — In Klang and Port Swettenham, two 

 towns within the protected Federated Malay States, 

 remedial measures were commenced in 1901. The deaths 

 from malaria were in 1901 368 and in 1905 45. In the 

 surrounding districts, where no measures were taken, the 

 'deaths for these years were respectively 266 and 351. 

 In Hong Kong remedial measures were commenced in 

 1901. In that year the admissions to hospital were 1294 

 and the deaths 132. In 1905 the admissions were 419 and 



NO. 2140, VOL. 85] 



the deaths 54. In 1904 the United States took over the 

 administration of the zone of the Panama Canal ; the 

 deaths from malaria, which in 1906 were 821, had sunk 

 in 1908 to 282. 



(b) Yellow Fever.— In the city of Havana 35,952 per- 

 sons perished of yellow fever between 1853 and 1900. The 

 United States Government commenced remedial measures 

 in 1900, and in 1907 only one case of yellow fever was 

 reported. 



(c) During the last three years steps have been taken 

 in Uganda to stamp out sleeping sickness, an epidemic 

 which in one district alone had destroyed some 200,000 

 people out of a total population of 300,000. In 1907 th<- 

 deaths in the kingdom of Uganda numbered less than 

 4000, and in 1908 they fell to 1700. 



(6) I: will be seen that, tested by results, these figures 

 are full of promise, and prove conclusively that the 

 measures taken have proceeded on sound lines. 



(7) It will naturally be asked : How have these results 

 been achieved? The answer, so far as this country is 

 concerned, is by private effort in close cooperation with 

 the Government. Leaving out of account the Liverpool 

 School of Tropical Medicine, which has been generously 

 endowed by the citizens of that city, the bodies which are 

 responsible for sustaTiied an4 organised effort are the 

 Royal Society, the London School of Tropical Medicine, 

 the Sleeping Sickness Bureau, and the African Entomo- 

 logical Research Committee, all of which are associated 

 with the metropolis. The first of' these enjoys no direct 

 Government support, and has carried out its work by a 

 committee which includes some of the most eminent names 

 in the profession of tropical medicine, who have given 

 their services freely and gratuitously. The London School 

 of Tropical Medicine at the Albert Dock, which owes its 

 establishment, in part, to private generosity, receives an 

 annual grant from Government of 1300!!. The Sleeping 

 Sickness Bureau is supported entirely by Government, the 

 annual cost being some 1200Z. The African Entomological 

 Research Committee has recently been established to 

 investigate the insects which convey disease to men, 

 animals, and plants in the tropics, and includes among its 

 m.embers the best authorities on the subject. It receives 

 a Government grant of 2000Z. a year, and it is working 

 in close cooperation with the Natural History Museum. 

 In addition to the foregoing grants, a grant of 750Z. a 

 year is made to the University of London for. the pur- 

 pose of assisting work which has an important bearing on 

 tropical medicine. 



(8) The three cases which we have mentioned above 

 are those in which the most striking results of scientific 

 research have hitherto been obtained, but it is hardl\ 

 necessary to say that they cover only a small portion oi 

 the field. Notwithstanding the rapid advance of know 

 ledge in tropical diseases, there are many as yet unknowr. 

 or imperfectly understood. The causation of blackwatir 

 fever, of dengue, of beri-beri, and of many other diseases 

 still calls for investigation. 



(9) We submit to your committee that no more appro- 

 priate memorial to our late Sovereign could be proposed 

 than the establishment of a fund to carry on and extend 

 the work of research into tropical disease. We further 

 submit that it is eminently appropriate that London, the 

 metropolis of the Empire, should take the lead in a move- 

 ment for giving the full benefit of British administration 

 to these outlying portions of the King's dominion, which 

 have contributed in no small measure to her prosperitv 

 in the past, and will, by their development, give still 

 ampler ground for her gratitude in the future. 



(10) There can be no. class in this great cit\' to which 

 the scheme will not appeal. To the rulers, the mission- 

 aries, the philanthropists, and all those who concern 

 themselves with the welfare of the millions of coloured 

 races whom Providence has committed to our charge it 

 will appear of transcendent importance. To those whos' 

 kith and kin have gone out to bear their part in th' 

 work of civilising our tropical possessions, in whatever 

 station of life, it will appeal no less strongly. To the 

 man of business, in whose profit and loss account the 

 dangers to the health of his employes figure so largely, 

 our proposal will need no further recommendation. The 

 ultimate aim is the creation of a Tropical Britain whose 

 peoples are freed from the scourge of sickness, and where 



